Chapter 660

Qiqi's eyes flashed a glint of cold light: "After tonight, tomorrow my eldest imperial brother will likely come out to preside over court affairs, and he is nothing more than a new puppet; if this continues, Dakang will sooner or later fall into Ji Feihua's hands."

Quan De'an said: "This old slave deserves death ten thousand times; if it weren't for my overhaste, today's situation would not have arisen."

Qiqi gave a hehe cold laugh: "What is bound to happen will always happen. Eunuch Quan, are you still willing to serve Dakang?"

Quan De'an, hearing this, dropped to his knees with a thud before Qiqi, trembling voice: "Princess, this old slave will devote himself utterly to Dakang until death; even in death, as long as I can rid Dakang of this treacherous villain, I will do so willingly."

Qiqi smiled and nodded: "Ji Feihua is not that easy to deal with, but when a person is in control of all situations, that is when he is most pleased, and also when he is most lax in his defenses."

Quan De'an said: "What the Princess means is..."

Qiqi said: "Removing Ji Feihua is not difficult; the worry is that the 100,000 Feather Forest Army in the capital might cause trouble. The Feather Forest Army, from top to bottom, has nine most important commanders; if we control these nine, we can guarantee the Feather Forest Army will not rebel."

Quan De'an said: "Ji Feihua's martial arts are superb; even this old slave is no match for him, and moreover this person is resourceful and scheming; to eliminate him is certainly no easy task." In this matter he was not as optimistic as the little princess.

Qiqi said: "Those who follow the Way gain many allies; those who lose the Way gain few. Although Ji Feihua wields great power, he has acted against the Way, already arousing the anger of senior officials at court; everyone merely fears his pressure, daring to be angry but not to speak out. That vile Empress Jian, in order to achieve her goal of putting her own son on the throne, does not hesitate to ally with wolves, colluding with Ji Feihua."

Quan De'an said: "When does the Princess intend to act?"

Qiqi gave a light smile: "No need to rush; these two days are precisely when they are most cautious. Anyway, we have plenty of time; we just need more patience."

Quan De'an said: "This old slave cannot stay here indefinitely; if discovered, it would be detrimental to the Princess."

Qiqi said: "The more dangerous the place, the safer it is; Ji Feihua would never expect you to be so bold as to hide in the palace. Moreover, the palace's underground is labyrinthine; as long as someone wants to hide, even if you turn the palace upside down, you might not find them. Since I dared to rescue you, I will certainly be able to rescue you."

Seeing off Long Xi Yue, Hu Xiaotian finally had one less worry; although deep down he did not want to part from her, because of Xi Yan's appearance, the situation ahead will inevitably become more dangerous and complex. Only by moving her to a safe place in advance can he focus his energy on resolving the immediate troubles.

The next morning, Hu Xiaotian walked out of the small building where he lived. After a night of wind and rain washing, the flowers, grasses, and trees in the courtyard showed exceptionally vivid colors. Looking up, the sky was a clear blue, without a trace of cloud; the breeze was light, carrying the damp scent of grass, wood, and earth. When Long Xi Yue left, Hu Xiaotian did not go to see her off, because she had specifically said she did not want him to see her off; she disliked parting scenes, fearing she could not restrain herself from crying in public.

Hu Xiaotian quietly gazed at the cherry tree in full bloom before him; in the blossoms he seemed to see Long Xi Yue's visage, more lovely than the flowers themselves. Lost in thought, he heard a cough behind him, started awake, turned around—and saw Tang Qingxuan standing right behind him.

Hu Xiaotian smiled: "Appearing and disappearing like a ghost, you scare people to death!"

Tang Qingxuan pursed her cherry lips and spat: "Do I really look that frightening?"

Hu Xiaotian laughed: "Often, whether a person is frightening has nothing to do with appearance; there are plenty of people who are beautiful as flowers but have hearts of serpents and scorpions."

Tang Qingxuan gave him a fierce glance: "I heard that today we all have to go to the Qixing Palace."

Hu Xiaotian smiled: "Not us, it's me!"

Tang Qingxuan said: "I want to go too; I've been in Yongdu for so long and still haven't seen the Princess."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Even if we meet, we will still have to part; parting inevitably brings pain, so why add another pain?"

Tang Qingxuan said: "Stop with your pretentious literary talk; tell me why you never want me to see the Princess—what exactly are you secretly up to?"

Hu Xiaotian raised his index finger and shushed her, then said: "Come with me inside."

Tang Qingxuan followed him into the room, her beautiful eyes wide open, and said: "Speak!"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Tang Qingxuan, our situation is now very troublesome and dangerous; please try to be more careful."

Tang Qingxuan said: "I haven't caused you any trouble; I just want to see the Princess—this request is hardly excessive. Yet you continually refuse me, which proves there's something fishy going on."

Hu Xiaotian really felt both amused and exasperated; even if he couldn't send Tang Qingxuan away, he couldn't bring her to the Qixing Palace either—if she saw Xi Yan, everything would be obvious. This girl, though pretty, is absolutely not clever, and with her bad temper, who knows what trouble she might stir up.

Tang Qingxuan, seeing Hu Xiaotian silent, became even more convinced he had something to hide, stepped forward and said: "You definitely have something on your mind—speak! What have you done to the Princess?"

Hu Xiaotian furrowed his brow, scheming; it seemed he couldn't dissuade her without playing a little trick, he sighed and said: "Miss Tang, I won't hide it from you, but you must first promise me that you will not divulge what I tell you."

Tang Qingxuan said: "I promise you."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Empty words aren't binding."

Tang Qingxuan said: "Then I swear; if I break my oath, let me never marry in this life."

Hu Xiaotian spat: "That's also called swearing? It's no different from telling me I'll never find a wife—totally painless."

Tang Qingxuan said: "How could it be the same? You're a eunuch..." After saying that she realized she had misspoken, her pretty face flushed red, she felt a bit apologetic in her heart, and whispered: "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that about you."

Hu Xiaotian thought, "You're saying it about me, you're discriminating against me, the great lord, for being a eunuch," he rolled his eyes and said: "What's wrong with being a eunuch? Eunuchs are people too."

Tang Qingxuan said: "I've apologized to you, you petty person; eunuchs certainly cannot take a wife."

Hu Xiaotian suddenly had a wicked idea, he hehe laughed: "Why don't you swear like this: if you ever leak this matter, you'll be punished by marrying a eunuch as your wife."

"Ah!" Tang Qingxuan, hearing this, was stunned wide-eyed; her pretty face flushed even deeper. To be a eunuch's wife—wouldn't that be marrying him? That would be a huge loss for her. But after a moment's thought, realizing that as long as she didn't speak, the oath wouldn't count, she nodded and said: "Let the oath be sworn; under the heavens, if I, Tang Qingxuan, divulge what Hu Xiaotian told me, I will be punished by marrying him as my wife."

Now it was Hu Xiaotian's turn to be astonished; he opened his mouth wide, "Damn, I didn't mean that—could it be that the Tang family's little girl has taken a liking to me? I'm a eunuch, and you don't mind? My charm is really off the charts."

After Tang Qingxuan finished her oath, she also realized she had misspoken again; people clearly said "marry a eunuch," not "marry him," yet she had practically offered herself up—how embarrassing! But Tang Qingxuan also thought, "Isn't Hu Xiaotian just a eunuch?" Her throat felt itchy, she couldn't help coughing and said: "Speak!"

Hu Xiaotian sighed: "I won't hide it from you; this matter concerns the lives and fortunes of everyone in our envoy. In fact, when the ship sank on the Yong River, the Princess disappeared."

Tang Qingxuan involuntarily let out a gasp, her beautiful eyes filled with disbelief.

Hu Xiaotian said: "If this gets out, we'll probably all die; left with no choice, I came up with this 'substitute peach for plum' scheme, letting the Princess's palace maid Ziju impersonate the Princess to conceal the truth, hoping to get by."

Tang Qingxuan's eyes brimmed with tears as she said: "You…… you mean the Princess……"

Hu Xiaotian nodded.

Tang Qingxuan suddenly rolled her eyes, lifted her chin, and collapsed limp; Hu Xiaotian hurried forward a step and embraced her delicate form, Tang Qingxuan actually fainted from excessive grief; Hu Xiaotian pressed her philtrum, after a while Tang Qingxuan slowly came to, seeing herself held in Hu Xiaotian's arms, her face flushed again, she struggled slightly and said: "Let go of me."

Hu Xiaotian released her; Tang Qingxuan thought of the unfortunate Princess Anping and burst into tears: "My poor sister…… you died so horribly……"

Hu Xiaotian, startled, hastily covered her mouth and whispered: "What did you promise me? This must absolutely not be made public; if outsiders learn of it, we will all lose our lives."

Tang Qingxuan drew a deep breath, her eyes brimming with tears as she stared at him blankly.

Hu Xiaotian said: "The Princess is neither alive nor dead—no corpse, and even I don't know where she is now; for now we cannot grieve, we must wait until we have safely left Yongdu before we can cry." Seeing Tang Qingxuan's emotions finally settle, he then lowered his hand.

Tang Qingxuan, though no longer speaking, could not stop her tears from flowing; her eyes were already swollen from crying. Although she had known Long Xi Yue only a short time, Long Xi Yue treated her with deep affection, and Tang Qingxuan had already come to regard Long Xi Yue as her own elder sister; hearing the bad news, she was naturally heartbroken.

Hu Xiaotian silently sighed, "This girl may be willful, but after all she is also a person of deep feeling and righteousness," he said softly: "Now you understand why I wanted you to leave first, right? Since you already know the truth, you should still leave early, to avoid lingering here and inviting trouble."

Tang Qingxuan, however, shook her head and said: "I won't go!"

Hu Xiaotian really felt a bit puzzled; she came to Yongdu for Long Xi Yue's sake, and he had told her Long Xi Yue had met with misfortune—why then does she refuse to leave?

Tang Qingxuan said: "We came together from Kangdu to this place; we ought to share the same boat, weathering hardships together. Although I am a woman, I also know what righteousness means; you have saved my life more than once, now that danger has arisen, how could I not stand by you? If the sky falls, we'll bear it together; if we go, we all go together." (To be continued~^~)